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Spoilers Star Trek: Short Treks 1x02 - "Calypso"

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Finally watched it. What a beautiful hommage to Homer's Odyssey. It shows how timeless those stories are, that they work even in that setting, maybe even better now.

The 80s cartoon Ulysses 31 was a great scifi adaptation of the material.


This short reminded me a bit of Still Treads the Shadow with the ship and computer.
 
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not a huge connection, but Odysseus spent 10 years in theTrojan war followed by repeated misadventures trying to get home. At one point he landed on Ogygia (spelling?) where Calypso lived. She took care of him and enchanted him and loved him. He spent 7 years, but when he began to miss his wife, Athena implored Zeus to free him. Zeus sent Hermes with a Cease and Desist order, and she reluctantly let him go.

So some things same, some not so same.

I hope so. The day we can't ask dumb questions anymore is the day we will stop learning.

others have already answered that while I was asleep due to time zones, so, basically, what they said: war veteran Odysseus/Craft, on his decade long voyage home to his family - his wife Penelope/(no name given in Star Trek) and his 11 year old son Telemachos (no name given in Star Trek) - landed on the island Ogyga/the USS Discovery, where the nymph Calypso/the AI Zora develops feelings for the hero and vice versa until "the crafty Odysseus"/Craft remembers his family and the nymph/the AI has to let him go.

it's a pretty 'on the nose' adaptation, leaving out the Greek Gods of course as well as any malevolent intentions and acts by Calypso/Zora

Thank y'all!:techman:
Now that you spelled it out for me, I remember again (though i absolutely, 100% wasn't aware anymore that the nymph was called Calypso - knowing that it's pretty on the nose! :guffaw:)

Incidentally, this was also the part I least liked about the original Odyssee: "Oh, hurr durr, Odysseus was SO brave, took 10 years to travel back home and everything". Like, dude, he was banging another chick for 7 frickin' years of that time!
 
So many questions, that I'm sure many have already asked, but I'll articulate:

1. Where'd the crew go?
2. What happened to the Federation?
3. Humanity really f'd up somewhere along the line huh?
4. Zora doesn't consider herself "alive" but she clearly is.
5. Why the name Zora?
6. How did Craft know Discovery was from the past? Couldn't have been outdated tech cuz his wasn't any better. I assume technology stunted because of war.
4: Zora was lying to herself and to him. Craft called her on it.
5: Maybe she named herself. She had her own concept of what she would look like, as a human. Maybe she decided to give herself a name and picked Zora "Dawn" for personal reasons. Or maybe that's just the current build name of her operating system.
7: He's crafty, maybe? Perhaps there were certain style giveaways, or the old starfleet logos, that would have been like a 4th century AD Roman legionary seeing an old Republic era helmet and realizing he was looking at an old antique.

Thank y'all!:techman:
Now that you spelled it out for me, I remember again (though i absolutely, 100% wasn't aware anymore that the nymph was called Calypso - knowing that it's pretty on the nose! :guffaw:)

Incidentally, this was also the part I least liked about the original Odyssee: "Oh, hurr durr, Odysseus was SO brave, took 10 years to travel back home and everything". Like, dude, he was banging another chick for 7 frickin' years of that time!

Interestingly, Romans did not regard Odysseus as a hero, unlike the Greeks. They thought he was sneaky, deceitful and dishonorable. They probably wouldn't have cared much for the idea that he spent 7 years as a love addicted man ignoring his familial duties, either.
 
The Federation is still around. Craft's people are at war with it. He knew The Discovery was from the past because Zora knew who Betty Boop was. He says this directly. Maybe she liked the name Zora.
I didn't get that impression. The conflict seemed between two factions of Antos IV. If Craft people was at war with the Federation, I doubt the A.I. would have been so helpful. I also got the impression the Federation itself may have collapsed as he referred to it as part of the past that the faction he was fighting against wanted to keep alive.
 
Interestingly, Romans did not regard Odysseus as a hero, unlike the Greeks. They thought he was sneaky, deceitful and dishonorable. They probably wouldn't have cared much for the idea that he spent 7 years as a love addicted man ignoring his familial duties, either.

Yeah, Odysseus definitely wasn't a moral guy by todays standards. Interesting to learn he wasn't even by Roman ones! I didn't knew that!

On the other hand, I'm also a fan of stories with a "guile hero". Especially some of his adventures on the journey definitely fall into that category, I always like it more if the hero is clever and not just an honorable brute.

It's always funny to remember the Odyssee was escapist fiction back then as well - "wouldn't it be AWESOME to just KILL all your wife's admireres?" "Hell yeah!" - basically "The Punisher - ancient edition".:guffaw:
 
Back to topic:
I really find it interesting how much more I liked Zora's voice, than the computer vice of season 1. In my opinion, the computer voice of the Discovery of season 1 was a big problem: She seemed uncaring, cold, almost authoritarian. Like you would expect the computer of "The Empire" sound, or from the Alien universe. Contrast with Majel Berret's computer voice, which (while matter-of-factly) always was had a more friendly, "Federation-y" tone.

I really hope whoever voiced "Zora" will become the new computer voice of the Discovery in the following seasons!
 
Also felt a little Andromeda like with such a high tech self-aware ship and an unknown future.

Actually andromeda would have been terrific trek

In my head canon Zora is produced by the same creators who created Rommie in Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda

So it is possible that they are doing something similar to Andromeda

I immediately thought of Andromeda and Rommie.
 
The 80s cartoon Ulysses 31 was a great scifi adaptation of the material.
and it had an awesome theme song (like, you know, most 80s cartoons). If I remember correctly, the theme was played in discos and clubs all over France during that time and inspired Daft Punk to become...Daft Punk
 
I finally remembered to watch this today, and I really, really enjoyed it. It was very well written and acted, with a good story. A little more context might have been nice, but since it's a short it's understandable that it's not going to go into a ton of detail.
I was avoiding spoilers, so I hadn't heard that Craft's enemy was the Federation. That's definitely an interesting twist.
I wonder if this is a completely standalone story, or if it will tie to some kind of future story down the line, either in more Short Treks, Disco itself, or maybe even it's own series?
 
I didn't get that impression. The conflict seemed between two factions of Antos IV. If Craft people was at war with the Federation, I doubt the A.I. would have been so helpful. I also got the impression the Federation itself may have collapsed as he referred to it as part of the past that the faction he was fighting against wanted to keep alive.
The creator of the episode already confirmed that Craft's enemy where the Federation.......
 
I didn't get that impression. The conflict seemed between two factions of Antos IV. If Craft people was at war with the Federation, I doubt the A.I. would have been so helpful. I also got the impression the Federation itself may have collapsed as he referred to it as part of the past that the faction he was fighting against wanted to keep alive.


It was confirmed his enemy was the Federation. Take a good look at his life pod.
 
This was the best episode of Discovery so far, by a long shot.
Okay, that was great. Much, much better than anything I've seen out of Discovery to date.
I have just gotten around to watch the short and I must say I agree with you guys, this was simply fantastic and clearly the best episode Discovery has put out thus far!

It certainly wasn't perfect, but I enjoyed it immensely. It actually made me feel something. That it almost felt like an episode of Black Mirror is actually a very positive thing, I think. I love the mystery of the setting, the positive ending, the acting of Aldis Hodge and whoever did the voice of the computer. Heck, even the cinematography was more interesting than in your standard season one episode of Discovery.

I hope this is the way more of season two will be. :techman:
 
I have just gotten around to watch the short and I must say I agree with you guys, this was simply fantastic and clearly the best episode Discovery has put out thus far!

It certainly wasn't perfect, but I enjoyed it immensely. It actually made me feel something. That it almost felt like an episode of Black Mirror is actually a very positive thing, I think.
What does it say about Trek that it's "best episode" reminds everyone of Black Mirror? It reminds me very much of Next Gen's "The Inner Light" being heavily praised when it wasn't like Trek at all, just some movie about someone growing old with a seperate Trekkish B-plot.
 
What does it say about Trek that it's "best episode" reminds everyone of Black Mirror?
That oftentimes Trek was at its best when it presented something a little out of the box? That some of the best Trek outings were somewhat reminiscent of high-concept anthology shows like Black Mirror or the original Twilight Zone – like “Mirror, Mirror”, “The Inner Light”, “Far Beyond the Stars”, “Living Witness” or “Twilight”? That Trek isn't any one thing only? That tastes vary?

:shrug:
 
That oftentimes Trek was at its best when it presented something a little out of the box? That some of the best Trek outings were somewhat reminiscent of high-concept anthology shows like Black Mirror or the original Twilight Zone – like “Mirror, Mirror”, “The Inner Light”, “Far Beyond the Stars”, “Living Witness” or “Twilight”? That Trek isn't any one thing only? That tastes vary?

I agree. The beauty of Trek is it's a format that lends itself to anything. Trek can be action-adventure, hard sci-fi, spy thriller, romance, western, high farce, costume drama, message piece. You name it, Trek has done it. Hell, the original conception of TOS was essentially "anthology show with an unchanging cast"

If Trek really has a core, it's basically about a positive examination of the human condition. Most typically, this is done through allegorical settings or through a "character drama." Calypso was both. The entire episode was an allegorical retelling of part of The Odyssey, and the entire focus on the plot was on the interactions between Craft and Zora.

I also really appreciated that this episode had zero fanwank (it was just on Discovery to save the producers money). Trek of course has fanwank, but it's not typically about fanwank. That's why I think Calypso felt much more like Trek even though it lacked the extensive callbacks that Discovery Season 1 had - because the fanwank was really the only thing that seemed Trekkian about Discovery's first season. Take away the setting and it would just seem like a generic sci-fi property. In contrast, Calypso succeeded in feeling like Trek even though the actual references to canon were so limited that you cannot figure things out without off-camera explanation from Chabon.
 
I also really appreciated that this episode had zero fanwank (it was just on Discovery to save the producers money).
You know, I hadn't really thought of that, but yeah, kudos to them for actually going without all the unnecessary callbacks, eastereggs and fanwanks for once. No Craft being an ancestor of Benjamin Sisko's for no reason. No Bajoran food in the mess hall as a wink-wink. No Zora being an early version of the Borg or some shit like that. Feels refreshing after a season full of stuff like background Andorians, Orions, Tellarites, the house of Kor, tribbles on a desk, the Zee-Magnees Prize, the USS Shran etc. etc. etc. I swear, sometimes season one felt like it was written by the staff of Memory Alpha!
 
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